Assignment Desk Notes

Honolulu newspaper sale approved

2010-05-16T06:25:00.000-07:00

Most of Saturday, the Ides of May, was spent at the National Press Club here in Washington where I was privileged to speak on the subject of operating freelance writing businesses. More about that on another day.

For those of you who have never visited the National Press Club, the lobby is decorated with framed leather renderings of memorable front pages from America's past. Phil Graham, former Publisher of the Washington Post, once famously proclaimed to the Overseas Press Club that "Newspapers are the first draft of history." Graham's observation was right on the money even if his exact wording is open to some argument.

One of the framed front pages in the lobby always attracts my attention because of a personal connection to it. An original framed copy of that page hangs on my office wall. It is the "Extra Edition" of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin from December 7, 1941 detailing the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. It was distributed so soon after the attack that the lead story acknowledges only six dead and 21 injured. The death toll eventually reached 2403 souls.

My connection is that I spent close to a year in Honolulu as Chief Operating Officer of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Honolulu Newspapers operated as a JOA (joint operating agreement) between Liberty Newspapers and Gannett.

In the late 1990's, the partners chose to end their JOA. JOA's were (and still are in a few places) a creature of Congress designed to keep diverse editorial voices operating in big cities. The darn things never worked very well. Business operations were handled by a supposedly separate "agency company." The editorial departments were free to be independent.

A judge stopped the dissolution on anti-trust grounds after a lawsuit was filed by the Newspaper Guild. An attempt needed to be made to sell the weaker of the two newspapers... the afternoon Star-Bulletin... to a third party. I was sent to protect the asset and supervise the sale.

The Star-Bulletin was sold to a new company operated by a reserved, Canadian newspaperman named David Black and jointly owned by Black and a number of prominent local families.

Almost a decade has passed. This week. the Justice Department announced it would allow the Star-Bulletin owners to buy out their competition, The Honolulu Advertiser, from the Gannett Company.

Hawaii is a magical place and, despite a pressure-cooker situation, I would not trade my time there. When you live on Oahu, you acquire an entirely different perspective from what a visitor might get. The Hawaiian perspective has its roots in its colonial past. Still active is the wonderful atmosphere of the elite "Pacific Club." One might easily imagine Sidney Greenstreet sitting in a Rattan chair wearing a white tropical suit as he did in so many old movies. A societal divide between Asians and Europeans continues to simmer just under the surface.

The background to all this has to do with newspapering in America and with Hawaii's colonial past. General circulation publications are in serious trouble. The societal stew in Hawaii bubbling Sub-Rosa adds yet another dimension to the drama. All news employees at "The Advertiser" in 1941 were of European extraction. "The Star-Bulletin" staff was more mixed racially. Hawaiians have not forgotten and this colors their views even sixty years later.

The sole, surviving, Asian reporter who covered the Pearl Harbor attack was honored by the Asian American Journalists Association and I got to attend. Sixty years earlier, he told me about carrier-based Japanese bombers screaming overhead disrupting a quiet Sunday morning. He arrived at the Japanese Consulate in time to see secret papers being burned in the trash before they could be seized.

Both the "Star-Bulletin" and the "Advertiser" will disappear in June to be replaced with a new nameplate: "The Star-Advertiser." Partial ownership of the newspaper reverts to Hawaiian hands. The combined properties will employ about 300 fewer people than they do separately.

From this great distance, it is impossible to recognize winners and losers in this complex transaction. The folks who lose their jobs will certainly be losers. Whether the quality of news coverages for Hawaiians suffers remains to be seen. The news resources devoted weighs on the shoulders of those Hawaiian families who have chosen to invest. David Black's operating company has shown in other places that it needs to profit from operations. Effects from a dearth of competition might also figure into what is available to the Hawaiian citizenry.

Newspapers are, of course, a business. The Star-Bulletin has not made money the past ten years. It managed to grow its circulation from around 45,000 when I was there to about 65,000 today and that speaks well for the editorial effort expended. I wish them well in their new venture.

I mourn the passing of the historic competition and the loss of two famous newspaper flags. Both are a sign of the times. The reason I was asked to speak yesterday is because opportunities available for writers are changing so radically. Writers will survive and prosper, but by doing different work.

News widely available to all readers may require a more discriminating eye than has been recently necessary. In the 20th century newspaper world, a safe assumption could generally be made that the writer was attempting a measure of objectivity. In the new, blogospheric, world of information, objectivity can no longer be assumed as the starting point.

I think I must be turning into a dinosaur, but it seems somehow comforting to hold something memorialized on paper or carved on stone tablets in my hands. There is a permanence to it.

My lecture from yesterday was encapsulated on a little flash drive carried in my pocket about the size of a thumbnail. It performed flawlessly. And I got a chance to hold and play with an IPAD for the first time. I was unexpectedly dazzled and want one. The thing is really cool.

These are all wondrous devices, but I worry, just a little. What happens to all that we are if an unexpected electrical charge disrupts all those carefully arranged electrons on our hard drives and flash memory cards? What happens to Phil Graham's "first draft of history" when we are no longer here to tell the story?

The world is certainly changing. Much of this is a good thing. Does it strike anyone else as ironic that I'm musing about all this on a blog destined for the Internet. Well, the irony is not entirely lost to me.

Al Portner's "The Assignment Desk" provides

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A Note On Style

2010-05-13T05:56:00.000-07:00

Reporter is an interesting word when considering the notion of style. Today's personality driven media (especially on cable TV stations) puts a premium on the teller of the story rather than on the story itself.

The reporter should be a conduit and almost never the focus of the information being delivered.

Professor Strunk said "Write in a way that draws the reader's attention to the sense and substance of the story. If the writing is solid and good, the mood and temper of the writer will eventually be revealed."

Not too long ago, ten hopeful writers attended a breakfast meeting here in Washington with a literary agent. The writers were looking for representation. Over scrambled eggs, bacon, and coffee, the agent requested each briefly share their current projects.

Nine of the ten hopefuls described a memoir of their own lives. The tenth writer talked about an unusual and little known historical episode featuring some very wll known players.

Which project do you think the agent pursued out of the ten?

Be the lens through which ideas can pass without distortion. The weight of your evidence and the simplicity of your expression builds stronger arguments any expressed as your point of view.

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---

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Style and Revision

2010-05-12T05:52:00.000-07:00

Readers of these hints will be aware of a short book by Professor William Strunk and the Journalist E.B. White called "The Elements of Style." White took classes from Professor Strunk at Cornell University in 1919. Strunk's "little book" has remained a roadmap for writers ever since.

The original little book was self-published by Strunk as a classroom text and re-animated by White many years later. White died in 1985, but not until he had reworked Strunk's book at least four times and after an illustrious career. Professor Strunk's essential handbook survives in a 2008 released 50th anniversary edition.

Browsing the chapter on style, Strunk's admonition about revision spurred another look at yesterday's blog entry and at a column written for www.examiner.com. Both pieces needed revision only a day in the rear view mirror. Most writers (including this one) see what they thought they wrote rather than the words actually saved to file and posted for the world to read.

If a writer is not too sold on his own prowess, revision is revelation. Everyone has favorite words that steal into prose over and over like dandelions in a suburban lawnscape. Grab a thesaurus and find other words. On re-reading, entire phrases (added as afterthoughts) will work better earlier in sentences. Move them. Verb forms repeat. I make the same keystroke errors time and time again. Watch for similar challenges. Make sure all phrase parallelisms continue to conclusion.

The commandment to rewrite begs still another issue... revision time. Many of us work under deadline pressure. The number of errors that get passed on in a newspaper environment are legion. Some problems are traced to new technology and fewer eyes surveying the product. Most should be blamed on a self imposed definition of deadline.

Deadlines have become the last possible time to do anything. I, frankly, procrastinate by habit and inclination. The magic potion for this particular failing is simple. Assume any first draft reeks and time to recover during a re-write is required.

Al Portner's "The Assignment Desk, LLC" provides

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Think Beyond Paragraphs

2010-05-11T05:28:00.000-07:00

We've chatted a little about paragraphs and the virtues of not drowning one's readers in gray type. Like all living things, readers need to come up for air occasionally. Writers who choose not to share that facility best hope that animals with gills are consuming their pearls of wisdom.

Embedded bullet-points and short-lists are other ways to communicate shorthand within text. Graphics (like easily understood charts) can likewise help illuminate the way for readers not engaged strictly for pleasure.

White space is almost always your friend. As a young staffer at a local newspaper, I remember advertisers who insisted on filling every possible white space with type or product description. These crowded displays always fail. I suspect that the advertiser so exhausted his customers just reading his ads, that they were too tired to visit his store.

A final quick note for today is the notion of sub-heads. A sub-head is a brief couple of words stuck in the middle of an otherwise deadly stick of gray type. Every few paragraphs, readers get a signal that the subject is changing and something is important. This is usually the final step for any of my columns and the heads aren't necessarily brilliant, but I think of it as a way to stick out a hand to the reader and drag him along through the important points of the story.

Most members of your reading audience are bright and engaged. They are also busy and stressed. Anything the writer can do to enhance the reading experience will be very much appreciated.

Al Portner's "The Assignment Desk, LLC" provides

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The Debate Over Paragraphs

2010-05-10T07:50:00.000-07:00

When considering good writing, paragraphs are interesting animals. The traditional view is a paragraph is a group of sentences that fully illuminate a central idea. It is tough to argue with that definition.

On the other hand, many writers see articles and essays more in terms of a piece of music. Steven King calls them the rhythm section of his prose orchestra. King says paragraphs help keep the "beat" of whatever he is writing.

Paragraphs are an argument I personally have frequently with English teachers. When my daughter was in high school. I deliberately taught her to write concisely. Her English teacher critisized her essays for too many choppy sentences. I think she was done a disservice.

I was taught to write as a Journalist. Because undeniable identification is so important in news, qualifiers in sentences tend to stretch out the number of words in sentences and in paragraphs. Rather than the need for identifiers giving permission for windy paragraphs, this special need makes clear, concise prose even more important.

Heaven knows how many sentences wind around endlessly with phrases and clauses ad infinitum. In a world that increasingly communicates in 140 character bundles, saying exactly what you mean is essential.

You'll notice if you look at past entries on this blog, I have lots of paragraphs. I'm trying to accomplish a number of goals.

I'm trying to keep the ideas to little bites rather than whole mouthfuls. Ideas are more easily understood swallowed tiny rather than taken in big gulps. Think of paragraphs as cheeseburgers. You want the reader to chew them completely or they can become lodged in the food pipe.

Like Steven King, I try to establish a beat to my writing. Varying sentence lengths keep folks interested. Shorter paragraphs give readers a chance to jump in and out of an article. Long patches of gray type make all but the most determined readers groan like they are being asked to swim through molasses.

I watch for my own bad habits. I write too many sentences with introductory phrases and too many with a series of clauses separated by commas. When sentence lengths and senetence construction are consciously variable, it keeps readers more interested in the subject matter. Perhaps small variations help to keep a little surpise in the composition.

Some very good writers will disagree vehemetly with the suggestions I've just made. You pays your money. You takes your choices.

Al Portner's "The Assignment Desk, LLC" provides

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Newsweek for sale

2010-05-08T07:12:00.000-07:00

A quick note on media... Don Graham of The Washington Post Company announced this week to a shocked magazine staff that Newsweek was for sale. Most of these things are done behind closed doors. A new owner is simply announced and the staff takes a deep breath and soldiers on.

Don's Mother, the legendary Kay Graham, purchased Newsweek in 1961. At one time, the magazine had more than 4 million subscribers. Now, it is reduced to only 1.5 million paying copies. It is sad to see another publication head down the path blazed by U.S. News, Life, The Saturday Evening Post, and Look.

This Intenet do-dad thingie is changing the business of sharing information. Graham said Newsweek lost tens of millions of dollars during the past several years. The biggest piece of The Washington Post Company is not publications or TV or even cable. The biggest revenue generator is Kaplan University... a mostly online education company.

Times do chance. For the full story on the Newsweek pending sale... Click here:

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Adverbs are not your friends...

2010-05-08T06:38:00.000-07:00

A few days have passed since I promised to continue this on again, off again narrative on writing. Steven King's useful manual "On Writing" left off with an explanation of why he penned a writer's help book back in 1999.

I've had a busy week covering oil spills and jobs reports and financial disasters and arguments in Congress. But I digress...

King refers frequently to a source all good writers should memorize; Strunk and White's "The Elements of Style." It is a tiny volume - only about 85 pages - but if writing for a living is your life's goal pay attention to it!

Rule number one in Strunk and White is get rid of the passive verbs. Use the active voice instead. King agrees that they weaken whatever it is you are trying to say. Make the subject of your sentence do the work of the idea.

The example he uses is... Instead of "The body was carried from the kitchen by Tom and Jerry and placed on the couch", say "Tom and Jerry lifted the corpse and moved it onto the couch." While perhaps a very Steven Kingsian sentence, the idea is... the body can't do anything, but lay there. Tom and Jerry, on the other hand, are still alive and can actively do something proactive. The effect is stronger.

King's rule number two (and the one that stuck with me) is avoid adverbs in all their myriad forms whenever possible. Like passive verbs forms they make the active verbs wimp out in your sentence.

Remember, an adverb is something that MODIFIES a verb, adjective, other adverb, or adverbial phrase. How can modify ever be a good thing? It saps the strength out of whatever you are trying to get across.

By the way, always remember the great Mark Twain quote: "No generalization is worth a damn... including this one!"

Al Portner's The Assignment Desk, LLC provides

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Steven King as a writer's mentor

2010-05-04T11:51:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend, I stumbled into re-reading an unlikely book on the craft of writing by Steven King. King is, of course, one of our most productive and popular fiction writers.

He is best known for horror novels like "Carrie, Cujo, The Shining, The Stand" and dozens of others. My personal favorites are somewhat lighter in tone like "The Shawshank Redemption" and "The Green Mile."

During the summer of 1999, King was walking down a rural road near his home in Maine when he was hit by a reckless driver and severely injured. His book, "On Writing," was written as he recovered from what was a near death experience. It is surprising insightful and useful to writers of all stripes.

I will share many of the points King makes that I have found most helpful during the next few blog entries. One you get past all the horror genre stuff and his autobiographical musings, the guy really knows his stuff.

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Modifiers and connectors

2010-04-28T11:20:00.000-07:00

by Al Portner

Everyone has writing weaknesses and pet peeves. I certainly have mine. Little bad habits add up, irritate, and detract from writing effectiveness.

When you've finished a draft, go back and read what you've written. Make sure that you've used the most appropriate conjunction and most appropriate preposition.

Better yet, ask yourself if an adjectival prepositional phrase might not be clearer as a plain old adjective located closer to the word it modifies.

Keep a dictionary around, a thesaurus, a grammar book (I keep St. Martin's), the stylebook with which you are working, and last, a copy of "Strunk and White's "Elements of Style." I also have a copy of Bartlett's quotations close at hand.

___

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Proofread aloud and give your writing time to rest

2010-04-26T07:58:00.000-07:00

by Al Portner

Recently, I went to a seminar on social networking. The speaker was chatting about the process they use to blog. Honestly, it made me kind of shudder.

This person said that she types her thoughts directly into the blog format and clicks the send button. Let me put it bluntly. I ain't that good. And odds are... neither you nor she is that good either.

My head works faster than my fingers. The idea I'm trying to express is formed pretty quickly, but the expression of that idea takes a while. I can't tell you how many times I've allowed something to spew forth in an email and then reread it later. How (I wonder) could I have been dumb enough to make one or another common mistake?

I have some bad habits and I bet you do too. Mine include typing "you" when I meant "your," using the same word too often, using the world "also," using indefinite pronouns without clear references. Do you habitually make any of these errors? How about similar ones? Do you switch verb tenses in a series?

I have found that when I try to edit a piece directly after writing the rough copy, I tend to read back what I think I wrote rather than the words on the paper or screen. On the other hand, if I let the copy sit for a few hours or until the next day, I am much more likely to spot silly errors.

It has been recommended that you final proofread your copy aloud and with someone else present. While not always possible, reading aloud for proofing purposes is a great idea.

Remember, anything you put up on the web or send to a business associate lives forever. It will serve your reputation well to give your writing the respect and attention it deserves.

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Keeping sentences short assures your maximum readership

2010-04-23T05:02:00.001-07:00

by Al Portner

Welcome to a world influenced by Twitter. I'm sort of kidding, but people are busy and look for easy ways to absorb information. This helps explain the success of a service that requires thoughts be 140 characters or less.

Many business people write sentences of 40 words or more. Try to limit yourself to 35 words or less. Studies have shown that business people don't tolerate communications that go on and on.

The tendency is to skim. Readers pick out a few key words and assume the rest of what you had to say. This can be very dangerous to meaning. Think about it. You've done it. I have. And later been embarrassed when I discovered I responded inappropriately.

This posting averages nine words a sentence. Think of short sentences like the vegetables Mom insisted you eat. "Try it, you'll like it."

Al Portner's "The Assignment Desk, LLC" provides

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Writers and verb tenses

2010-04-22T03:32:00.000-07:00

by Al Portner

The landmark guide to good composition, "The Elements of Style" by William Strunk and E.B. White (first issued back in 1935) takes up only 85 pages, yet lays out most of what a good writer needs to know.

Active verbs in the present tense make your prose clearer and more engaging. We live in the present and tend to more pay attention to sentences that live where we do. Helper verbs water down meaning and weaken meaning.

"The habitual use of the active voice makes for forcible writing.
This is true not only in narrative, but in writing of any kind."

Al Portner's The Assignment Desk, LLC (TAD) provides

creatives staffing for all your company's projects.

----

TAD offers an extensive stable of extensive pre-vetted writers,

photographers and graphic designers.

Visit the TAD website at

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See Al's columns on public policy at

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2010-04-21T09:22:00.000-07:00

by Al Portner

Journalists are taught that their mission is to get to the point with their sentences and paragraphs. Often in an attempt to get to the point, sentence clarity is obscured by a covey of qualifiers.

In journalism, this may be necessary because of a need to be sure that people are identified in specific and that verbs are structured as to not force a conclusion when result is still in doubt. These constructs are not always necessary in most commercial and business situations.

If you find yourself consistently writing paragraphs of ten typed lines or more, pare back your glowing prose. Readers tend to skim over the top of dense blocks of type. Shoot for paragraphs of five lines or less. The literary quality of your prose is wasted if your reader develops narcolepsy in mid-paragraph.

Make yourself a rule. A paragraph should express only one main idea. If the idea becomes too involved, break it into two or more ideas. Your readers will thank you when they awaken from their gray text induced stupor.

Al Portner's "The Assignment Desk" (TAD) provides

creatives staffing for all your company's special projects.

TAD offers an extensive stable of writers, photographers,

and graphic designers. Visit the TAD website at:

www.theassignmentdesk.com

----

See Al's columns on Public Policy at:

http://bit.ly/PublicPolicyExaminer

Editing good... Micro-management - not so much

2010-04-20T13:19:00.000-07:00

by Al Portner

Here's a tip for folks who can't leave well enough alone...

If you are someone who closely edits the writing of those people who you have hired to write, cut it out. I'm not referring to errors that make a difference. I'm talking about stuff that is mainly a matter of choice. Stop sweating the small stuff. You are discouraging those folks that work for you and not improving the product all that much.

If you still feel like changes need to be made, make suggestions to your writers and let them make the changes. You'll have a much happier shop and be looking for new writers less often.

Don't get me wrong... Editors are about the most important persons in a writer's life, but only if they work with the writer to make constructive changes that strengthen the final product.

Al Portner's "The Assignment Desk" (TAD) provides

creatives staffing for all your company's special needs.

TAD offers an extensive stable of writers, photographers

and graphic designers.

Visit TAD's website at:

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----

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Great Writing Tip Number 1

2010-04-19T06:08:00.000-07:00

A list of common, bad writing habits floated into my "inbox" over the weekend. They are mostly things we know or should know. Put the emphasis on "should."

Writing lessons are usually hard won, but mapping out the potholes can help steer around sudden dropoffs.

Ditch bad habits and improve your communications skills.

Advice Numero Uno:

Whenever writing anything (especially on line), do it as some internal file, let the piece sit, and go back to it before posting, mailing, emailing, or turning it in.

Re-Read, Review, and Edit.
Go through this process at least twice.
If editing is attempted too soon after drafting rough copy, most writers see what they remember they wrote rather than what they actually put down.

Do yourself a favor, don't wait until the last minute to do the first draft of an important project. A second pair of eyes scanning your project will save you tons of embarrassment and enhance your professional standing.

Tip#1 should be tatooed in reverse on your forehead... so you can read it in the mirror when you comb your hair or brush your teeth.

Al Portner's "The Assignment Desk, L.L.C. (TAD)" provides "creatives" staffing for all your company's special projects. TAD offers an extensve stable of experienced pre-vetted writers, photographers, and graphic designers. Visit the TAD website at www.theassignmentdesk.net.

Read Al's columns on Public Policy at: http://bit.ly/PublicPolicyExaminer

2010-01-03T08:56:00.000-08:00

I was asked recently what I thought about the future of small newspapers.

Eveyone seems to agree that local community papers have a better chance of surviving intact than the average newspaper animal. I think that is right from a readership point of view.

Community newspapers will not escape the continuing deterioration of the advertising base. This has more to do with changes in the composition of the advertising customers than anything else.

Part of the reason they have done so well up to now is that they had learned to survive with minimal classified and natiional advertising.

The person who figures out how to monetize the internet on a small scale will be the big winner. The key my friends is in the yet to be discovered new business model.

Certainly, the future is bright for vertical special interest publications where people spend significant money to get to know stuff they actually need for their everyday lives.

As to a future in writing, I think it might serve us all well to remember John Dillinger's famous quote about why he robbed banks. He said, "because that is where the money is."

I'm not suggesting anyone rob a bank. I am suggesting that writers examine the marketplace for niches where their skills can be useful and target them for future emplyment.

We should look for situations where our writing skills represent new or increased revenue streams to our employers rather than being viewed as an expense.

There are ways to accomplish this seemingly impossible task. I'd be interested to hear your opinions.

Only three jobs in the world

2009-03-12T14:27:00.000-07:00

By Al Portner

There are only three jobs in the whole wide world. There are people who make things. There are people who sell things. And there are people who supervise and account for the people who make and sell things.

The United States economy has shifted dangerously away from making things. The global economy was imagined as the erasure of borders while nations sat around the campfire singing folksongs of uplifting content.

Some workers from emerging economies are living better because of globalization. Some prices are lower than they would have been. Other workers are living not as well as they once did. Many are not working at all. Global companies have pinned down costs and held profits up. Some of the supervisors and accountants have gotten very wealthy.

The world picks winners and losers. In this new, global world, the winners are companies rather than common citizens or nation-states. Governments serve as the guarantors of bad decisions made by globalized private concerns. This state of affairs serves only the few.

The impact of the global economy has been to shift winner and loser categories from nations to corporate entities. Nation-states share ultimate duty for the well-being of their own citizens.

The system broke because it was not properly overseen. Strategic and tactical interests of individual countries were ignored. Our nation has a strategic interest in energy autonomy, as health outcomes as good as afforded in other developed countries at a similar share of GDP, and a manufacturing sector that adequately services domestic needs. We fooled ourselves into believing leveraged managerial know-how could replace the making of things.

Healthy globalization happens when all three legs of the economic stool support their share of the weight. Production surpluses relieve shortages in neighbor nations or are traded for raw materials or finished goods we don’t produce.

Our strength has been discovering better ways to create, produce, sell, and manage. The solution to our problem lies in creating and producing. Sales depends on perceived need. Management cannot stand on its own. We must re-learn to make stuff.

Al Portner is a former daily newspaper editor and publisher of newspapers in seven states. He is the proprietor of The Assignment Desk, LLC, an editorial services consortium.

Portner is also the author of the forthcoming non-fiction book “Mark Twain and the Tale of Grant’s Memoir.” He can be reached at alanportner@theassignmentdesk.net. The Assignment Desk URL address is www.theassignmentdesk.net.

History of Intellectual Property in a Digital Age

2009-03-06T08:30:00.000-08:00

By Al Portner

The digital age brings an old problem back into the limelight. As Amazon.com introduces its new Kindle II, and Google intends to create a single digital library that contains all of the world’s knowledge, the notion of “Intellectual Property” and how the creators of that property are compensated returns to top of mind awareness.

“Intellectual Property Laws” describe the system that determines legal ownership of ideas or artworks of various kinds. Copyrights protect the financial ownership of a work of art like photos, paintings, books, films, or music. The 1st U.S. copyright registered to John Barry for a spelling book in 1790.

In the United States, copyrights are registered with the Library of Congress. Registration makes rights easier to enforce, but the copyright is born at the moment the author creates the artwork. Registration does not necessarily secure all rights worldwide.

This was a problem in the 19th Century. Mark Twain, a proponent of copyright legislation, went to extraordinary lengths to register new works with American and British Empire Copyright Offices simultaneously. A number of Twain’s books were pirated by Canadian publishers.

The famous white suit in which we often think of Mark Twain first appeared at a Congressional hearing on copyright in December, 1906. He dressed in all white to draw additional attention to the issue. Delighted with the sensation caused, he immediately ordered six more white suits; ever after referred to as his “Don’t Care A Damn Suits.”

Finally, countries agreed to international treaties that most abide by; most recently -- the Berne Switzerland Convention of 1989. Copyrights on new works give authors ownership for their lifetime plus 70 years. Afterwards, works pass into the “Public Domain” without need to compensate an owner.

With all art, ideas expressed cannot be copyrighted, but exact duplication is protected. New, derivative works written must credit original sources. This is called “Fair Use.”

Google’s attempt to digitize the world’s libraries reached a settlement in 2008, but new complexities will continue the debate over “intellectual property” well into the future.

Al Portner is a former daily newspaper editor and publisher who has operated newspapers in seven states. He is currently the proprietor of The Assignment Desk, LLC, an editorial services consortium.

Portner is also the author the forthcoming non-fiction book “Mark Twain and the Tale of Grant’s Memoir.” He can be reached at alanportner@theassignmentdesk.net. The Assignment Desk URL address is www.theassignmentdesk.net.

Financial terminology intentionally opaque

2009-02-28T08:15:00.000-08:00

By Al Portner

Ordinary "Joes" spend prodigious time worrying about the economy. Reporters and analysts speak a foreign language to most of us outside their confined bubbles of influence.

Banks need to strengthen their “balance sheets.” “Price earnings ratios” need to improve. “Hedge funds” lack of significant oversight. “TCE or tangible common equity” recently surfaced in news reports about the solvency of banks. Insider terminologies whizz past the understanding of most of us like a knuckleball hurled by a major leaguer.

A knuckleball (as metaphor) goes relatively slowly, but tends to make unexpected movements on its journey from the pitcher’s hand to the catcher’s mitt. And that describes our financial system.

I admit to a certain level of ignorance on these matters. Patiently explained, none of the concepts seems hard, but asking for explanations is discouraged. Balance sheet ratios and price/earnings standards are judged by industry within acceptable ranges.

Last week, I called a stockbroker friend and asked him for a list of industry sectors and normalized ratio values for those sectors. I hoped to analyze financial positions and make smart buy or sell decisions. He couldn’t access the information, and so far hasn’t found it. Financial folks don’t really want investors to know the definition of normal.

I will look also and bring what I find here in the form of short columns that begin to explain the economy that threatens to collapse around us.

The $50 billion Bernie Madoff fraud case/giant Ponzi scheme makes one wonder if many financial people who act like they know what they are talking about can be completely trusted. Certainly, not all financial executives are crooks. To steal a phrase from Ronald Reagan… “Trust; but verify.”

Al Portner is a former daily newspaper editor and publisher who has operated newspapers in seven states. He is currently the proprietor of The Assignment Desk, LLC, an editorial services consortium.

Portner is also the author the forthcoming non-fiction book “Mark Twain and the Tale of Grant’s Memoir.” He can be reached at alanportner@theassignmentdesk.net. The Assignment Desk URL address is http://www.theassignmentdesk.net/.

Nation needs new revenue streams

2009-02-27T06:42:00.000-08:00

By Al Portner

President Obama has submitted a culture-changing fiscal blueprint to the Congress for consideration. The President’s priorities are appropriate and long overdue.

Healthcare costs as a percentage of GDP are double the rest of the comparable, developed world. Sending $700 billion dollars annually overseas to buy fossil fuels can’t be good for the economic health of the nation or the environmental health of the planet. That the financial future of the nation rests on the higher education of its people is tough to argue against when the entire history and prominence of America has been based on the notions of innovation and discovery.

But all these initiatives are mind-blowingly expensive. The markets and the people who control them are gasping. An already weakened financial system must be reinforced, re-regulated, or in some cases regulated for the first time.

President Obama plans to pay for this platter full of problems by programs of fiscal responsibility and taxes on those who are most able to pay. The top five percent of earning families will be resentful.

The country needs new revenue streams. Money is the mother’s milk of innovation in a digital age. If the nation achieves the goals enumerated in the budget and clearly stated before the 2008 election, we will have to fund the research that makes them possible.

The nation should benefit from a portion of the intellectual property that it pays to develop. And the use of that money should be limited to paying down or paying interest on debt.

Al Portner is a former daily newspaper editor and publisher who has operated newspapers in seven states. He is currently the proprietor of The Assignment Desk, LLC, an editorial services consortium.

Portner is also the author the forthcoming non-fiction book “Mark Twain and the Tale of Grant’s Memoir.” He can be reached at alanportner@theassignmentdesk.net. The Assignment Desk URL address is www.theassignmentdesk.net.

Bank nationalization new boogeyman

2009-02-22T12:57:00.000-08:00

by Al Portner

Bank Nationalization is the new national boogeyman. If the largest banks are beyond repair, the government might have to take temporary ownership of some of them. Most depositors would be minimally affected. Investors (including large institutional funds) would lose their investments.

Sen. Chris Dodd intimated several large banks might require this to achieve stability. Market reaction was immediate. Shares values in Bank of America and Citigroup tumbled up to 25 percent in minutes.

The White House quickly reassured markets it favors private banks, but didn't absolutely rule out later action. Stocks reflexively recovered some of their lost value.

The root the banking crisis is probable over-valuation of toxic loan assets brought on by a lack of oversight. TARP was necessary because a very few large financial institutions were deemed “too large to fail.”

The $700 billion TARP program addressed this concern. So far, TARP has not worked as presented by Bush Treasury Secretary Paulson. Worse, banks refused to disclose what they did with their first $350 billion allotment.

A process, currently ongoing, will evaluate bank toxic assets before more taxpayer money is expended. Nationalization will hurt investors and should be avoided if possible, but it also presents an opportunity for taxpayers to recover emergency funding and for the government to break up any “institution too large to fail.”

Huge financial institutions may appear more efficient. They operate at the speed of light. Consequences of systemic errors can be catestrophic. They are also remote from most people who depend on them. Perhaps they should to slow down a tad. Perhaps financial markets need reasonable regulation. Completely free markets tend to implode on themselves in ever new and innovative ways.

Your thoughts on this and any other previous postings are always welcome.

Al Portner is a former daily newspaper editor and publisher of newspapers in seven states. He is the proprietor of The Assignment Desk, LLC, an editorial services consortium.

Portner is also the author of the forthcoming non-fiction book “Mark Twain and the Tale of Grant’s Memoir.” He can be reached at alanportner@theassignmentdesk.net. The Assignment Desk URL address is http://www.theassignmentdesk.net/.

Natural gas vehicles: A quick win-win

2009-02-20T18:11:00.000-08:00

By Al Portner

Carbon emission reduction is a future national imperative. Meanwhile, what happens to America’s 250 million gasoline-powered vehicles? Americans, a famously impatient lot, can access a practical, environmentally superior alternative today. Gasoline engines can convert to natural gas. The distribution infrastructure is mostly in place for home heating.

Natural gas is available domestically, is more economical, and releases less carbon than gasoline. Government can encourage natural gas conversions by making available a “Conversion to Natural Gas Vehicle Tax Credit” and require installation of “Natural Gas Refueling Pumps” at service stations.

In addition to the native cost and environmental benefits, natural gas promotes economic activity, creates jobs, and slows the flow of energy dollars offshore. Conversion kits cost as little as $1000 per vehicle. Some “NG” conversions even allow drivers to switch between natural gas and gasoline.

Natural gas may not be a perfect, long-term energy solution, but it makes “Change-Now” available to many Americans and it allows us to utilize all that current hardware we already own. Americans can decide to personally make a difference.

Your thoughts on this and any other previous postings are always welcome.

Al Portner is a former daily newspaper editor and publisher of newspapers in seven states. He is the proprietor of The Assignment Desk, LLC, an editorial services consortium.

Portner is also the author of the forthcoming non-fiction book “Mark Twain and the Tale of Grant’s Memoir.” He can be reached at alanportner@theassignmentdesk.net. The Assignment Desk URL address is www.theassignmentdesk.net.

How did the press become non-partisan?

2009-02-12T18:05:00.000-08:00

By Al Portner

The notion of a non-partisan press serving a watchdog function without inserting its own opinions into news stories is amusing when one digs a bit to find out from whence the idea originally came. Journalists are taught to report the Who, What, When, Where, How, and Why without regard to party or ideological persuasion.

Has it always been thus? Or is this just a part of the business cycle that is now completing its 1880 beginning orbit of its readers/viewers? How did the press become the whipping boy for all politicians? What causes all the animosity that seems to display itself against the media?

The notion of a non-partisan media took hold only after ownership consolidation of media outlets got rolling. This coincided with the development of big box stores. At first, we had J.C. Penney and Sears Roebuck, Kresge’s, Woolworth, and Montgomery Ward. The advertisers wanted to reduce the number of buys required to cover their cities.

In 1900 alone, sixteen daily newspapers circulated in New York City, not including the additional newspapers produced in the various boroughs. Additional specialty newspapers were produced in each of the five boroughs. Each of these newspapers had a very specific audience component whose interests were paired with the newspapers story selection and style. The circulation of each was very limited by their specialized readership and the technology of the day.

Over time, the newspapers consolidated. Speeds improved. Publishers gave News/Editorial departments the instruction to write stories from a neutral point of view so as to appear as if they were not promoting any particular point of view. The idea was to appeal to a broader audience segment and capture the big box merchants.

Prior to this time, newspapers printed whatever they chose to fill their space and the needs of their readers. It was common to see advertising on the front page. Fiction and hoaxes were enjoyed. Newspaper pages were limited. In 1884, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) asked the new Associated Press Bureau Chief in New York to place a promotional piece on the wire. The man demanded a $150 payment in exchange for doing so. Clemens was outraged. But this didn’t stop him from providing reviews of his books already written by friends (notably by William Dean Howells) to other publications.

The result was fairly predictable. As with the lover, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” The slant of a story is in the eye of the reader. Since newspapers after consolidation started were now writing for people who agreed, disagreed, or had no opinion… they were guaranteed to offend on average two-thirds of the readers at all times.

While this was probably always the case, if a writer just wrote for people who agree with his or her point of view (as before the beginning of consolidation), the writer could usually be assured that his or her story would be mainly well received. On the other hand, if he or she wrote about a political person or issue that would be disapproved of by the audience, he or she could be assured that he or she might be castigated. But the disagreeable person was not an important constituent and the writer didn’t care much.

This was also the beginning of the falling away of much of the audience. Who wants to read a publication with which you disagree two thirds of the time? The hostility began to grow.

The press has been damned as liberal. Media has taken on the role of adversary to whom-ever is in political power. A non-partisan media that reports news without opinion is a relatively new phenomenon. Prior to 1900, it probably did not exist at all. Up until through the Kennedy Administration, it lived up to certain ground rules which protected some pretty outrageous personal behavior.

This may be a built in bias. Actually, many writers are political conservatives. But conservatives are usually more certain of their positions than liberals. Living a life of asking questions tends to make a writer seem a liberal by itself.

Remember the old joke? I don’t belong to an organized party – I’m a Democrat.

The discussion is summed up by a great quote from Winston Churchill: “Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has not heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains. ...”

Al Portner is a former daily newspaper editor and publisher who has operated newspapers in seven states from Maryland on the east to Hawaii on the west. He is currently the proprietor of The Assignment Desk, LLC, an editorial services consortium with over 200 affiliate writers, photographers, and designers.

Portner is also the author of hundreds of articles and the forthcoming non-fiction book “Mark Twain and the Tale of Grant’s Memoir.” He can be reached at alanportner@theassignmentdesk.net. The Assignment Desk URL address is http://www.theassignmentdesk.net/.

The actual root of the banking difficulties...

2009-02-08T01:43:00.000-08:00

By Al Portner,

Where did our financial system begin to go wrong?

I believe the root of the problem is the very business model that modern banks have adopted. It used to be a bank profited from the interest it earned.

Individuals made deposits of their savings on which they were paid interest. Credit-worthy businesses and individuals borrowed the deposited money and paid a higher interest rate than was offered to the depositors. The difference between the two rates was known as “the spread” or the bank’s profit.

The owners of the bank assumed the risk of default. They were required to put some of their own money into the bank as capital and because they did -- they were very concerned about the quality of the people to whom they lent money. The capital basis of the bank and pledged assets of the borrowers ensured that depositor’s monies were safe.

Periodically, depositors lost confidence in financial institutions for a variety of reasons and many demanded their money back simultaneously. This became known as a “bank run.” Overnight, a bank’s capital resources could be depleted.

President Franklin Roosevelt created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to address this concern. Banks were required to pay an insurance premium to the government which then stood behind the bank deposits with its full faith and credit up to a certain limit.

To maximize profits, complex and/or exotic financial instruments were designed that spread out the risk of failure of a single business among all businesses. The theory was that this was less risky for investors. Over time, transactions became much more complex and the focus of the business model changed from retail to wholesale. Bank profitability structures began to depend more on "fees" than “the interest spread.”

No longer did banks want to hold the security interests that had been the basis of their loans. It was better sell the securities and re-loan the money. Better yet, fees collected were immediate and flowed directly to the profit line. The ability of borrowers to repay now mattered less.

If a prospective homeowner didn’t qualify under traditional standards, the bank could change the standards; stretch out the term of the note; or create an exotic payback scheme. The bank became mortgage originators who passed off risk to someone else and collected his or her fees up front. Home prices inevitably rose and it was in the interest of the originator to allow it.

Fast forward to today. Combining contingent liabilities to reduce risk works if standards for determining the risk remain sound. In other words, it is necessary a lender live with the results of his or her lending and make a good portion of profits from “the spread” if the system is going to work.

Financial instruments designed to reduce risk are only as good as the underlying assets. The sum of the total reflects only itself. To prove the truth of this axiom, just take a look at your investment account.

Your thoughts on this and any other previous postings are always welcome.

Al Portner is a former daily newspaper editor and publisher who operated newspapers in seven states from Maryland on the east to Hawaii on the west. He is currently the proprietor of The Assignment Desk, LLC, an editorial services consortium with over 200 affiliate writers, photographers, and designers.

Portner is also the author of hundreds of articles and the forthcoming non-fiction book “Mark Twain and the Tale of Grant’s Memoir.” He can be reached at alanportner@theassignmentdesk.net. The Assignment Desk URL address is http://www.theassignmentdesk.net/.

Surprising results on newspaper discussion

2009-02-03T07:01:00.000-08:00

By Al Portner

About a week ago, I started a discussion about the newspaper business cycle among several relevant groups. There has been a great deal of interest and a number of replies.

My goal in starting the discussion was to stimulate discussion on three specific points.

First, do writers think reporting is an intrinsic need for a successful representative democracy? Second, if media is the watchdog, then its practitioners should be paid well for all the abuse they take in serving that role. Last, I was hoping for new ideas about sources of money to pay all those necessary salaries.

I don’t have any firm answers myself. Obviously, from what is happening in the economy generally nobody else has many suggestions either.

A non-profit, charitable, endowed model was suggested by a fundraiser op-ed in the New York Times. Not a terrible idea, but a tall mountain to climb. According to the article, the Times alone would need an endowment of about $5 billion to maintain its current newsroom staff. Nationally, the idea could cost about $114 billion.

A group from the American Press Institute called "Newspaper Next" has agreed that there is a problem. Another group of newspaper executives has announced through their website, http://www.newspaperproject.org/, that things are not as bad as they seem.

What is surprising, however, is the extreme vitriol with which a number of the replies to my discussion were written. Bottom line is that there is a tremendous built up anger and dissatisfaction out there towards media in general and newspapers in particular. Some comments are directed at management. Some replies are directed at the writers. Other anger manifests as being flat out general frustration.

There is a perception abroad in the land that the media used to be bi-partisan and non-judgmental. The opinion is that reporting was better in "the good old days." Was it ever thus? Should it be? Where did this "independent media" notion come from anyway?

Very few of the replies or comments from various quarters address any of the three questions posed. I suspect that the responses I did receive do speak volumes. Probably, they express a view akin to seeing forests from among the trees.

Al Portner is a former daily newspaper editor and publisher who has operated newspapers in seven states from Maryland on the east to Hawaii on the west. He is currently the proprietor of The Assignment Desk, LLC, an editorial services consortium with over 200 affiliate writers, photographers, and designers.

Portner is also the author of hundreds of articles and the forthcoming non-fiction book “Mark Twain and the Tale of Grant’s Memoir.” He can be reached at alanportner@theassignmentdesk.net. The Assignment Desk URL address is www.theassignmentdesk.net.